On Sept. 7, Villanova students, staff, faculty and alums dispersed throughout the Philadelphia area to participate in the 19th annual St. Thomas of Villanova Day of Service. Pictured here is Erasmus Kersting, PhD, and his son, Samuel, lending a helping hand.

In September, the department began its 2024-25 research seminar series with two talks. On Sept. 13, Sabrin Beg, PhD, from the University of Delaware presented her paper on “Learning Beyond School for Adolescent Girls,” and on Sept. 20, Mariya Brussevich, PhD, from Ibmec-RJ presented her paper on “Bank Financing of Global Supply Chains.”

On Sept. 26 and 27, Villanova hosted Workshop on International Financial Institutions. The workshop, organized by Christopher Kilby, PhD, with support from Cathy Costello, brought together researchers from the US and Europe to present original econometric research on the economics and politics of international financial institutions. Students from our capstone class, The Political Economy of Development Aid, also attended. 

Beginning in September, Chris Jeffords, PhD, taught an introductory economics class at SCI Phoenix, a maximum-security state correctional institution. To his knowledge, this was the first time the students had an economics course.

In early October, Chris Jeffords, PhD, participated as a panelist at Villanova’s 2024 International Sustainability Conference. Dr. Jeffords, one of the conference organizers, discussed “Forward Thinking: Socially Responsible Research in Business and Economics.” 

In October, there were two research seminar presentations. On Oct. 4, Ashley Orr, PhD from Carnegie Mellon University presented her paper on “Job Search from a Distance: Employers Prefer Local Applicants.” At the end of the month, Stefan Avdjiev, PhD from the Bank of International Settlements presented his paper on “New Spare Tires: Local Currency Credit as a Global Shock Absorber.”

On Oct. 24, Sindi Kulla ’22 VSB, an analyst at NERA Consulting, visited Dr. Mary Kelly’s Industrial Organization and Public Policy course. She spoke to students about how economic analysis is used to determine outcomes in court cases, including damages in intellectual property and price fixing cases.

On Oct. 30, Erasmus Kersting, PhD, and Mary Kelly, PhD, accompanied 26 students to New York City for the day. In the morning, students heard from Villanova alums at Goldman Sachs about career paths at the firm. At lunch, students networked with 17 econ alums working in financial services. Before returning to campus in the late afternoon, students visited the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (FRBNY) where they toured the gold vault and learned from Fed economists about jobs at the central bank. A huge thank you to Econ alums James Barry ’07 CLAS and Paul Licari ’11 VSB for hosting the students at Goldman Sachs and FRBNY, respectively.

In November, there were two research seminar presentations. On Nov. 15, Sebastian Anti, PhD, from Bryn Mawr College presented on “The Impact of Improved Cookstoves on Vegetation Cover in Rwanda.” A week later, Helene Purcell, PhD, ’11 VSB from the University of Pennsylvania presented her paper on “Too Hot to Think: How Temperature and Other Environmental Factors Affect Cognitive Assessment in Low-Income Settings.”

The year ended with a research presentation by Zain Chaudhry, PhD, from the World Bank on the topic of “Overcoming Intersectarian Divisions through Contact and Leadership: Evidence from a Field Experiment.”

In February, Sarah Burke, PhD, joined students from the 2024 Fed Challenge Competition Team and traveled to the Federal Reserve in Washington D.C. to attend an open house and network with staff, competitors and judges.

In early March, Christopher Kilby, PhD, presented “Shock to the System: Canada & the AIIB” at the International Studies Association in Chicago. A week later, he was in Germany to present “How Does Spatial Complexity Impact Development Effectiveness? Political Siting v. Political Implementation” at the “Analyzing Global Development with the Geocoded Official Development Assistance Dataset” workshop at the University of Göttingen.

In March, the department hosted two research seminars. On March 14, Jiyoon Kim, PhD, from Bryn Mawr College presented her paper on “Paid Leave and Mother’s Earnings Share within Family in the Long-Run: The Role of Spousal Income.” The following week, Xuan Jiang, PhD, from Jinan University presented her paper on “The Gendered Impact of NSF China Policies on Women in Academia.”

On April 14, Patrick Harker, PhD, the then president of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve, was the keynote speaker for the department’s spring marquee event that gathered over 500 Intro to Macro students in the Villanova Room of the Connelly Center. After brief remarks on the health of the US economy and monetary policy actions, Dr. Harker entertained student questions. Dr. Harker was introduced to the audience by Adam Scavette, PhD, ’10 VSB, economic advisor at the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. 

On April 25, finalists in the annual Adam Smith Research Competition presented their research papers to faculty, students, friends and alums. The competition is generously sponsored by John Haines ’79 CLAS. Congratulations to Cassidy Hruz ’25 CLAS, this year’s winner, for her presentation “Adaptive Innovation: The Impact of Prior Recessions on Firms’ R&D Behavior.” Dorian Scourtos ’25 CLAS earned runner-up for his paper on “The Impact of OECD Population Aging on Economic Growth and Productivity,” and Juliette Voskian ’25 CLAS received honorable mention for her paper on “The Impact of Gender-Based Aid on Gender Inequality and Women’s Empowerment.” 

On April 29 at VSB’s Research Day Poster Session, Kathleen Heraty ’28 VSB and Christopher Kilby, PhD, presented their research on “Understanding Vote Switching in the UN.” The poster presentation describes a research agenda to determine why some countries make ex-post switches in roll-call votes at the United Nations. This research is funded by the First Year Match program and a Villanova Undergraduate Research Fellows grant. At the same event, Renee Dziennik ’26 VSB and Peter Zaleski, PhD, presented their research on “War and Peace: A History of Oligopoly Pricing.” Their research analyzes case studies from the past 50 years of oligopoly pricing strategies and the contexts in which firms compete by lowering price or by differentiating and maintaining a high price. This research is funded by the Economics Undergraduate Research Opportunities grant.

During the month of April, the department hosted three research seminars. John Giles, PhD, from the World Bank presented his paper on “The Impact of Extending Maternity Leave on Fertility Decisions and Women’s Employment: Evidence from China.” Eoin Mcguirk, PhD, from Tufts University presented his paper on “Development Mismatch? Evidence from Agricultural Policies in Pastoral Africa,” and Olga Timoshenko, PhD, from Temple University presented her paper on “Demand Uncertainty, Selection, and Trade.” 

At the graduation ceremonies on May 16, 126 students graduated with a degree in Economics from VSB and CLAS. Erin Clayton ’25 VSB was awarded the Bartley Medallion for excellence in the study of Economics and Dorian Scourtos ’25 CLAS received the John Maynard Keynes Medallion for excellence in the study of Economics. Pictured here is Dorian after receiving his award from Erasmus Kersting, PhD.

On a monthly basis throughout the year, Chris Jeffords, PhD, continued to organize and host Science on Tap - Phoenixville at Root Down Brewing Company in Phoenixville, PA. This is a family-friendly, community-focused speaker series where experts give brief talks and lead question-and-answer sessions within their areas of expertise. Dr. Jeffords co-founded this series with Assistant Teaching Professor Jen Santoro, PhD, Geography and the Environment, in 2022, and the May 2025 talk was the 35th in the series. The series has also been successful in collecting more than 2,000 pairs of new socks for The Joy of Sox organization, which donates the socks to unhoused individuals. Related to his organization of Science on Tap – Phoenixville, Dr. Jeffords was interviewed by NBC10’s Deanna Durante. The story was featured on the evening news and included footage of a recent talk by a colleague at West Chester University as well as commentary from Dr. Jeffords and co-director Dr. Santoro. 

In late June, most members of the department gathered at Dr. Kersting’s home to celebrate Cathy Costello, our department coordinator, who is retiring from Villanova after 27 years of service.

Xiaoxiao Li, PhD, received the Thomas J. Carmody Jr. Faculty Award for her efforts to promote the integration of teaching, theory and practice. Erasmus Kersting, PhD, received the VSB Media Relations Rising Star Award for his efforts in promoting and enhancing the VSB brand in the national media.

Several faculty members received summer research grants. Christopher Kilby, PhD, Xiaoxiao Li, PhD, and Zeynep Yom, PhD, were each awarded a university research grant. In recognition of outstanding research activity over the last five-years, the following members of the department received VSB summer research awards: Sutirtha Bagchi, PhD; Michael Curran, PhD; Scott Dressler, PhD; Chris Jeffords, PhD; Mary Kelly, PhD; Erasmus Kersting, PhD; Christopher Kilby, PhD; Xiaoxiao Li, PhD; Maira Reimao, PhD; Zeynep Yom, PhD; and Peter Zaleski, PhD.